Marine LtCol Thomas Jasper - Detailed Defense Counsel in the Military Commission case of United States v. Hadi al Iraqi

Marine LtCol Thomas Jasper - Detailed Defense Counsel in the Military Commission case of United States v. Hadi al Iraqi

http://www.mc.mil/Portals/0/pdfs/alIraqi/al%20Iraqi%20(AE007A).pdf

Marine LtCol Thomas Jasper - Guantanamo Bay Military Commissions

Marine LtCol Thomas Jasper - This Day in Marine Corps History - August 9

9 August 1942: With the Guadalcanal airstrip secure after heavy fighting with the Japanese, the 1st Engineer Battalion commenced work on the runway using captured equipment. Three days later, on 12 August, the first plane landed on Henderson Field, a Navy PBY which evacuated two wounded Marines. Nearly 3,000 wounded Marines would be evacuated from Henderson Field during the battle.

Source: http://www.usmchangout.com/military/branches/usmc/history/thisdayinhistory.htm#.VcPXQvlViko

Marine LtCol Thomas Jasper - War crime court proceedings end with little progress for al-Qaida commander (UPI, Jul. 30, 2015)

War crime court proceedings end with little progress for al-Qaida commander

By Ezra Kaplan, Medill News Service   |   July 30, 2015 at 5:18 PM

GUANTANAMO NAVY BASE, CUBA, July 30 (UPI) — The July commission hearings for accused war criminal Abd al Hadi al Iraqi halted abruptly this week after the defendant decided he did not trust his assigned Pentagon Lawyers. Not a single one of the motions set to be argued was resolved and the judged scheduled another round of pre-trial hearings set to start on Sept. 21.

“We’re making incremental progress. I won’t in any way try to say that what we’re doing is setting land-speed records,” said Brigadier Gen. Mark Martins, the chief prosecutor for military commissions.

The hearings were planned for Guantanamo Bay, Cuba from July 20 to July 31, but were delayed two days. According to the defense, the prosecution turned over new discovery only two hours before the first scheduled session, forcing the delay.

When asked the reasons behind the delayed exchange of information, Martins said only, “I will tell you we take our discovery obligation very seriously. We are producing it as we find it and prepare it. We’re doing our jobs.”

That new evidence would be at the heart of the limited proceedings when they finally got under way on Wednesday morning.

Hadi, an Iraqi national, sat in the courtroom dressed in white traditional clothing and paid close attention and took notes as the judge summarized what had transpired since the last hearings. He faces charges of a host of war crimes and is allegedly responsible for the deaths of at least eight military service members, punishable by life in prison.

Before arguments began, military commission judge Navy Capt. J.K. Waits questioned the defense lawyers. “I want to ask if [Hadi] wants to be represented by you before you stand up and argue on his behalf,” he said.

Hadi responded, through an interpreter, “Today, yes.”

Less than four hours later his answer would change.

“I do not want to confer with Col. Thomas Jasper or Maj. Ben Stirk, at least temporarily, until I have an option for an independent counsel,” said Hadi. “I don’t want them to represent me at this time”

His change of heart stemmed from a revelation in court that his original lawyer, Marine Lt. Col. Sean Gleason, was never properly released from representing Hadi. Gleason currently representsSept. 11 defendant, Mustafa al Hawsawi, meaning that on paper he is representing two men in the military commissions.

In addition to representing both men, Jasper said in court that a part of the evidence being used against Hadi was a conversation between Gleason’s two defendants while they were in the Guantanamo detention camps.

Hadi said that he never approved of Gleason being taken off of his case, instead he said, “I was insisting that he stay with me.”

Judge Waits said that he understood Hadi’s concerns and that the issue with Gleason should be resolved, as Hadi requested, with a meeting between the detainee and Gleason.

In the meantime, the judge suggested that they continue on with the case since neither Jasper nor Stirk was conflicted as Hadi’s attorneys. To which Hadi responded that he had lost trust in the entirety of his legal representation.

The snag in the hearings caught most of the courtroom off guard. After taking a recess followed by a meeting in chambers with the defense and prosecution, the judge announced, “Regrettably we’re in a little bit of a limbo.”

Marine LtCol Thomas Jasper - This Day in Marine Corps History - August 1

1 August 1944: After nine days of fighting in a battle termed "the perfect amphibious operation of World War II," MajGen Harry Schmidt, commander of V Amphibious Corps, declared the island of Tinian secured. The combination of surprise, heavy preassault bombardment, and effective logistical support was responsible for Tinian's recapture with a much lower casualty rate (344 killed and 1550 wounded) than had been experienced in previous landings.

Source:  http://www.usmchangout.com/military/branches/usmc/history/thisdayinhistory.htm#august 

Marine LtCol Thomas Jasper - This Day in Marine Corps history

This day in Marine Corps history

28 July 1918: Brigadier General John A. Lejeune assumed command of the 2d Division, U.S. Army in France, and remained in that capacity until August 1919 when the unit was demobilized. He was the first Marine officer to hold an Army divisional command, and following the Armistice, he led his division in the march into Germany

Source: http://www.usmchangout.com/military/branches/usmc/history/thisdayinhistory.htm#july

Marine LtCol Thomas Jasper - Guantanamo detainee's hearing delayed until September (Military Times, Jul. 27, 2015)

Guantanamo detainee's hearing delayed until September (Military Times, Jul. 27, 2015)

By Matthew Yurus, Medill News Service6:01 p.m. EDT July 27, 2015

GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba — On hold again: The Pentagon's latest attempt to move forward with a military commission for an Iraqi detainee was abruptly canceled when the judge found that the accused's defense attorney, Marine Lt. Col. Sean Gleason, was also involved in another war crimes case.

The pre-trial proceedings for accused terrorist Abd al Hadi al-Iraqi are set to resume Sept. 14.

"I respectfully say some of the comparisons about costs and so forth can be a bit myopic," Chief Prosecutor Army Brig. Gen. Mark Martins said. "I mean these are really important cases, and it's easy to do comparative cost figures and to fail to see how important it is to get national security right and fairness right."

Gleason, Hadi's former counsel, was not present at Wednesday's hearing, where it became evident that the Defense Department never formally released him from Hadi's defense team. Hadi, apparently nervous that Gleason could use information adverse to his interests in other proceedings, told the judge he has lost confidence in his entire defense team, at least temporarily.

"I need to talk to attorney Gleason," Hadi said.

Marine Lt. Col. Thomas Jasper, Hadi's lead defense counsel, told the judge, Navy Capt. J.K. Waits, that his team did not learn of the conflict until the government turned over new evidence less than 24 hours before the pre-trial hearings were scheduled to begin. Jasper told Waits that the government was privy to this information since 2007, the year in which Gleason was originally appointed to Hadi's case.

"I will tell you we take our discovery obligation very seriously," Martins said. "We are producing it as we find it and prepare it."

The judge originally ordered the court in recess in hopes that Hadi could meet with Gleason on short notice before he halted the proceedings altogether on July 23. It could not be confirmed whether Hadi and Gleason were able to speak electronically or otherwise.

Air Force Maj. Ben Stirk, one of Hadi's defense lawyers, declined to meet with reporters given his "current limbo status regarding our representation of Mr. Hadi and the way forward."

Hadi, now in his fifties, is considered a high-value detainee who is accused of being a senior al-Qaida commander who conspired and ordered attacks that resulted in the death of at least eight U.S. service members in Afghanistan. He was captured in 2006 and held by the CIA for no less than 170 days before coming to the detention center at Guantanamo Bay.

Hadi previously objected to being dealt with by female guards, but calmly appeared in court and was dressed in traditional white garb.

The government hoped to move the case forward over the originally scheduled 10-days of hearings by establishing jurisdiction over the defendant and determining what evidence and out-of-court statements could be admitted at trial. No trial date is set.

The prosecution did introduce Felice Viti, the attorney from Utah who prosecuted the Elizabeth Smart kidnap and rape case, as its new deputy counsel. Smart's case gripped the nation throughout the 2000s, culminating in Smart's memoir, "My Story."

The military brass from the Pentagon and witnesses were flown into Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, from Andrews Air Force Base at taxpayer expense and will return in September to resume proceedings, some of which were intended to be completed in this round.

This week's scenario is not an anomaly. For example, the 9/11 trial was scheduled to last two weeks in February, but was derailed on the first day after one of the accused said he recognized his translator from a CIA black site.

The way forward, Martins said, is "following the law."